AS Psychology Unit 1 Research Methods: Sampling Methods Revision

Random Sampling– A method of sampling whereby all the participants have an equal chance of being selected in a population take part in the study. An example might be random generation of names by a computer or `drawing names out of a hat`.

Advantages of Random Sampling:

·Random sampling is `fair`. Everyone has an equal chance of being selected and the sample is likely to be representative.

Disadvantages of Random Sampling:

·This method doesn’t guarantee a representative sample – there’s still a chance that some subgroups in the target group may not be selected (e.g. people from a minority cultural group). Also, the target group is large it may not be practical (or possible) to give everyone a number that might be picked. So in practice, completely random samples are rarely used.